"Peacemaker Campaign Saga" for the Shadowlands Campaign Setting

The game begins in Mtol Daerine, the largest and most cosmopolitan city in Saemyyr and the home of the Brotherhood of Magus. A murder is committed with ties back to the Brotherhood and a mysterious death which occurred five years ago.

Aegwyn - Nothing noticeable seems to have changed.
Thomi - You creep confidently among the shadows, enveloped in a comfortable skein of darkness, and out of the hallway and into the larger living room. At first glance the house appears to have been ransacked, chairs are overturned, candles fallen over onto the floor, whoever came through here did a good job of turning over everything. So far there seem to be no traps which have been laid. On the far wall are two separated archways, one in the upper portion of the room and leads into what you assume (based on the revolting smell and visible stone) is a small kitchen alcove, you cannot see into the other lower one. Along the wall which joins up with the entry alcove, the wall which you are adjacent to on the right side of the room, and toward the front of the house is another archway, although your angle prevents you from being able to see into it.

I'm going to ask everyone to roll Perception checks for each room as they enter it.

Looking around, I'll stop to scan the living room, imagine it as it would have looked pre-ransacking. Keeping an eye out for biological residue, or any fragments of some item which is no longer there (i.e. potshards but no pot, etc), or tracks, naturally.
Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (1) + 16 = 17

Then I'll make for the archway on the far wall -- the one that's NOT the kitchen (I'm hoping for the bedroom). Surveying the scene and looking for clues, especially the above mentioned.
Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32

Aegwyn swings her shield into place and grasps her morningstar before walking cautiously up the steps to the doorway, slipping inside just after Thomi.

Stealth 1d20+9 Perception: 1d20+2

Aegwyn - your senses are overwhelmed by the smell of rancid milk and putrid vegetables and the only movement you sense is the sound of the neighbors walking up stairs. You slip into the darkness and proceed through the entry hallway and into the common room where you see the scene I described to Thomi above.

Bijannar hangs back, a few feet away from the Augur and the Black-Clad Knight, watching the street. He makes a point to wait for the rest to enter the home, letting Toranindracar have plenty of room to do his thing. When the rest of the group goes in, he'll enter. Otherwise, he focuses on the neighborhood around them.

Looking around, I'll stop to scan the living room, imagine it as it would have looked pre-ransacking. Keeping an eye out for biological residue, or any fragments of some item which is no longer there (i.e. potshards but no pot, etc), or tracks, naturally.

Perception: 1d20+16

Then I'll make for the archway on the far wall -- the one that's NOT the kitchen (I'm hoping for the bedroom). Surveying the scene and looking for clues, especially the above mentioned.
Perception: 1d20+16

Toranindracar - you mentally reconstruct the scene of the living room, placing things in the positions where they would have been, righting up small tables and chairs and placing items back upon them. You are immediately struck by something - an absence of valuable objects. There are no candlesticks, no small trinkets, nothing valuable is left in the common room. Further, dust patterns on the tops of the table indicate that these things were not taken, they simply were never there or had not been there for some time. Candles were placed directly on the tables, etc. The living conditions were spartan at best.

You cross the room to the archway in the lower left portion of the room and peer in to a ghastly scene which saddens and thrills you at the same time. It is Kal'ishal's study and work room and also his final resting place. Laying face down in the center of the room, arms outspread toward the front wall (paralleling the street), is the dead body of Kal'ishal. His body lays atop an unusual sigil, drawn in charcoal, and which has been smudged at various points by either a hand or a foot dragging through it. Red candle wax is visible in the interior of the sigil's circle. There is no sign of blood pooling from the body. The many bookshelves of the room are mostly empty and gone are the familiar to you and Bijannar books of a Magus Academy student. Likewise gone are the various magical lexica and rules of conduct of the Brotherhood. The only books which remain are obscure texts of the Order of Lux and some very old examinations of Brotherhood law codes which only a specialist would be interested in. There is also no sign of his staff.

His desk is against the outside wall which parallels the street and is oddly devoid of objects, books or papers. You do see the remnants of the same red candle wax on top of the desk. The desk has three drawers along its front.

Between the body and the desk is a crudely drawn holy symbol, drawn in blood.

Please let me know if you examine the body, the drawers or anything in specific.

Bijannar hangs back, a few feet away from the Augur and the Black-Clad Knight, watching the street. He makes a point to wait for the rest to enter the home, letting Toranindracar have plenty of room to do his thing. When the rest of the group goes in, he'll enter. Otherwise, he focuses on the neighborhood around them.

** spoiler omitted **

Bijannar - From the doorway into the house, Bijannar smells the smell of rotting food and sees the leaf and mud encrusted boots dropped by the door. You and Varan are the last to enter as Aegwyn, Thomi, and Toranindrcar have gone deep into the house. Do you enter into the living room?

Aegwyn quickly casts detect magic, and heads towards the kitchen, stepping softly and listening out before poking her head rund the corner.

Aegwyn - The smell of sour milk is quite potent in here, as is the acrid smell of what few vegetables remain here having gone off. There is remarkably little food in here. You see a small collection of empty wine jugs on the floor.

Bijannar, convinced all the 'adventure' must be inside, walks in carefully. He's mindful of where he steps and what he touches, so he takes his time. He looks around the room.

** spoiler omitted **

Bijannar - as you enter the main living area, you see the scene as I described it to Thomi above. At least Aegwyn and Toranindracar (and possibly Thomi?) are in the room in the lower right hand portion of the house, off of the main living area.

Aegwyn- Assuming Toranindracar says it's okay, you can find no appreciable cause of death, there are no punctures, no lacerations, no burns, the spine seems to be intact, and you see no signs of blunt force trauma. Based upon the swelling of the body, you would estimate he has been dead for about 4 or 5 days but of what cause, right now, you cannot say.

Bijannar waits patiently. He looks out for Varan again, to see if he's coming in. When it's evident the man is still outside, he walks to the door, pokes his head out, and whispers, "Were you coming in?"

Kal'ishal's body for any strange markings, signs of struggle, etc. Once the visible skin has been checked, I will carefully strip the body, (checking pockets as I go) and search the rest - Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (12) + 16 = 28

Hah. I don't want to hear about crappy rolls. I haven't gotten above a 12 (total) on any single roll since we began this scene! I think my last three rolls were 5, 6, and 5. All garbage. I couldn't see an army marching up on us...

While Toran and Aegwyn examine this room, I am crossing the living room and going into the room with the putrid smell (presumably a kitchen). I am still on high alert, but confident my new colleagues will let me know if my skills with disabling devices are needed.

Checking for Traps: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16

Stealth: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

Looking around: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29 Woohoo! Another Natural 20! (Hey Bijannar, want to use my dice? I will only charge 5 gp per throw, a price I am certain you will agree is a bargain in your current circumstances.)

I nod to the augur to check the body. "Just be careful not to disturb more than you must. And please be careful where you step -- I'll need to examine these charcoal markings, for example."

No need to re-roll separate Perception checks for each action you do, just one for each room is fine, unless I say otherwise.

The charcoal sigil - You don't recognize the symbol.

Kal'ishal's body - No signs of struggle. Given the position of the body he appears to have been standing up when he died and simply collapsed.

CLUES FOUND ON THE BODY:
• A note written in Sylvænar in a woman's hand in his right pocket
• A small oily burlap sack with a few boiled peanuts in it in his back trousers pocket.
• A red wax figurine, the details of which are being slowly formed, in his left pocket.

The remaining books- hand marks on the leather binding of the books indicate that they were used recently. You know them to be from the Brotherhood library.

Desk drawers- I need to know specifically what you do with the desk drawers. Just look inside? Inside there is very little. Bits of candles, flint and steel, a few quill nubs, scraps of parchment, a small letter opener.

Thomi - Indeed, it is a small kitchen. The smell of sour milk is quite potent in here, as is the acrid smell of what few vegetables remain here having gone off. There is remarkably little food in here. Nothing even remotely resembling something you could cook a meal with. You see a small collection of empty wine jugs on the floor. The ashes and coals in the fire pit are long dead, although there is a large amount of coal in a bucket and a small cord of wood against the wall. There are no signs of traps.

I go back into the living room and announce that it does not appear anything of interest is apparent in the kitchen. I then cross the room to the lower archway and take a look.

GM:

Making certain I have the exits straight. The upper archway goes to the kitchen, the lower archway goes somewhere else (down?), and there is a third doorway to the right that leads into the room with Kal'ishal's body. Correct?

I approach the right lower archway and peer into the unexplored room, with the usual caution.

Traps: 1d20+11

Stealth: 1d20+14

Perception: 1d20+9

Thomi - You do not immediately see the signs of any traps upon the floor of this new room. The room is a simple bed room, a small double bed is pushed against the far back wall (away from the street), the sheets tossed as if to "make the bed" without significant care. There is a small table with a few personal effects on it on the left side of the room (facing the bed) and two mostly empty bookshelves line the walls on the right side of the room. On the left side of the room (toward the street) is an open window, the curtain blowing out. To the left of the window is a small chest and to the right of the window is a large wooden armoire.

Figurine: There is a figurine made of red wax but the details of a specific face are indiscernible because they have not yet been made.

Drawers: You find that one drawer is not as deep as the other, presuming that there is a small hiding spot at the back of the drawer. You carefully remove the drawer and discover a heavy lead key with no markings on it.

Holy Symbol drawn in blood: Do you have Knowledge (religion)?

Illusion: You cannot see anything underneath the circular magical aura that hovers over the area of the center of the wall. All you can determine is that a powerful magical spell has been cast on this spot but as to what it is, you cannot tell or even see anything different about the wall with the naked eye.

Bijannar - The symbol does not appear to be part of a larger symbol. Your knowledge of religion reveals that the symbol drawn in blood is that of Ialdabaoth and the charcoal symbol that Kal'ishal's body is laying within is unknown to you. The only area to give off a magical aura is the a small 1 foot diameter circle in the center of the far wall. It is powerful and from the illusion school.

Toranindracar - you close your eyes for a brief second, summon your nerve, and reach your hand through, right up until the point at which your fingers hit the wall. The aura is a mere few inches from the wall and as far as you can tell, nothing has changed.

Bijannar looks at the mad Tegan and says, "Ummm.. sure. Although, per chance, I'm not sure exactly how I met your mother. Was she there for your graduation? Did I meet her then? Oh, wait, this was humor? And why are you sticking your hand into that pool of illusion? Surely...."

Thomi - your search reveals no magical traps, however upon moving the bed you determine that the headboard has a carved out portion towards its lower top leading edge and is accessible by removing a cleverly concealed portion of the headboard's wood. It is a roughly 10 inch long and two inch wide section of the headboard, probably normally covered up by a pillow. It does not appear to be trapped.

I feel around behind the illusion for any kind of safe or door latch, or perhaps a keyhole, such as one that would want a heavy lead key.

Toranindracar the wall is smooth white washed stucco and your feeling reveals nothing, not even the trace of anything. It seems to be a perfectly normal wall. Something in your House training tells you that you are not looking at it the right way.

"Come to think of it, scratch that. The beast sold me to the brotherhood without a second thought! Remind me to write her out of my will."

I step back to the archway and look at the illusion from a distance (to see the bigger picture, then turn myself to look at it upside down. Does it seem that something from the room at large is missing, that might belong right there, forming an image by means of the whole room? Could there hide a symbol on the wall, obscured by illusion?

If nothing strikes me, I wander off toward the bedroom, muttering about "batty Domani".

"Come to think of it, scratch that. The beast sold me to the brotherhood without a second thought! Remind me to write her out of my will."

I step back to the archway and look at the illusion from a distance (to see the bigger picture, then turn myself to look at it upside down. Does it seem that something from the room at large is missing, that might belong right there, forming an image by means of the whole room? Could there hide a symbol on the wall, obscured by illusion?

If nothing strikes me, I wander off toward the bedroom, muttering about "batty Domani".

Toranindracar - you peer at the area above the magical aura every which way, turning and contorting your head this way and that, but no matter which way you turn, you can make out no new information. There could be some symbol underneath, but short of dispelling the effect, you have no means of knowing.

I pry open the concealed compartment in the headboard, tingling with anticipation.

Thomi - you pry open the small wooden top to the compartment nestled within the headboard and see the leather binding of a well worn brown leather unmarked spine of a book. Assuming you remove the book, you see no markings on its cover, no title, nor any description of its content, just the well worn brown leather of its binding. Do you open the book to read its title page?